Pop Culture dictionary

beige flag

[ beyzh flag ]

What does beige flag mean?

Beige flag is a term that refers to a behavior someone considers to be odd, eccentric, or weird. 

The term beige flag is based on the older dating terms green flag and red flag. Green flag refers to a positive behavior that makes someone a more desirable romantic partner, while red flag refers to a negative or worrying behavior that makes someone an undesirable romantic partner.

Beige flag refers to a person’s strange or odd behaviors that catch someone off guard but typically don’t hurt that person’s desirability. A beige flag is neither good nor bad, but it does draw attention. 

Whether a behavior is considered odd or quirky enough to be referred to as a beige flag will vary from person to person.   

Example: My girlfriend’s beige flag is that she refers to all remakes as “the remix edition.”

Where does beige flag come from?

beige flag

Beige flag is based on the older dating terms green flag and red flag, which are references to actual flags used in auto racing. Beige is commonly described as being a neutral color, so beige flag refers to a behavior that is considered neither good nor bad but is still notable.

Beige flag as a term seems to have been popularized on TikTok, but it has changed in meaning since its emergence.

In May 2022, TikTok user itscaito posted a video in which they used the term beige flag to refer to behaviors that indicated a person was very boring. In this usage, the color beige was used in reference to it being commonly described as a boring neutral color.

@itscaito

beige is the new red and in other news dating apps are a wasteland 🚩 #hinge #redflags #datingredflags #hingedating

♬ original sound – Caito

This “boring” usage of the beige flag continued to be its majority usage for the rest of 2022.

In early 2023, beige flag shifted to have a more neutral meaning, referring to quirky or odd behavior rather than boring behavior. One of the earliest TikTok videos to use this new meaning was posted in February 2023 by user averybrynn1, who gave a new definition of beige flag.

@averybrynn1

NOW

♬ Summer Background Jazz – Jazz Background Vibes

This usage of beige flag to refer to odd, but not boring, behavior grew on TikTok and became the most common usage of the term for the rest of 2023. This popular usage also spread to other social media platforms.

Examples of beige flag

My husband's beige flag is that he can't stick to a theme for a potluck. Thanksgiving dinner? He's making tamales. Pasta dinner party? He's frying a whole turkey.
@kris10outta10, November 29, 2023
Dunking Oreos in water instead of milk is a beige flag. So is turning on caps lock to type the first letter of every sentence, or maintaining a Lego obsession into adulthood, or being afraid of astronauts.
Callie Holtermann, The New York Times, June 7, 2023

Who uses beige flag?

Beige flag is a popular term on social media, especially TikTok. People will often use the term beige flag when they share their own or their partner’s odd behaviors.

Just Added

Midwest nice, brat, Earth Day, yassification, ♈ Aries Emoji

Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of beige flag like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of beige flag that will help our users expand their word mastery.